C-E-N-T-E-R-L-I-N-E-S

#108 Friday, October 22, 2004

CenterLines is the bi-weekly e-newsletter of the National Center for
Bicycling & Walking. CenterLines is our way of quickly delivering news
and information you can use to create more walkable and
bicycle-friendly communities.

F-E-A-T-U-R-E-S

ACTIVE LIVING RESEARCH ISSUES CALL FOR PROPOSALS

-> According to a recent release, "Active Living Research has released
Call for Proposals * Round 4. This round makes up to $500,000 of
funding available for Case Study research that examines: 1) the active
living related policy-change process and 2) policy innovations that
impact physical activity. Proposals may request up to $30,000 for
single case studies and up to $60,000 for studies of multiple cases.
The study timeline is 12 months. Funding is expected to begin summer
2005. The deadline for proposals is December 1, 2004.

"Active Living Research is a national program of the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation and is administered by San Diego State University.
Active Living Research supports research that will promote active
living for all Americans by expanding our knowledge of how
environments, policies, and practices influence physical activity.
Contact us by e-mail at kreese@projects.sdsu.edu or by telephone at
(619) 260-5538."

TALKING BIKES TAKE MESSAGES TO STREET

-> According to an article in the Adventure Cycling Association's Oct.
20th issue of Bike Bits, "Bikes Do the Talking" is an innovative
program in Charlotte, North Carolina, meant to get people thinking --
and biking. Bicycles parked in the city's new bike racks are bedecked
with signs holding humor-infused messages, such as, 'Runs on
Alternative Fuels. Like Donuts.' Charlotte's bicycle program manager,
Ken Tippette, says the campaign is designed 'to encourage more people
to consider getting out of their car and onto their bike.'..."

MARIN CO. BICYCLE COALITION TESTS L.A.B. SAFE ROUTES PGM

-> According to an article in the Oct. 18th BikeLeague News, "The Marin
County Bicycle Coalition partnered with the League of American
Bicyclists and Mill Valley Middle School's Physical Education Dept. to
devote five weeks of PE classes to test Safe Routes to School bicycle
and pedestrian safety lessons. The lessons were developed under the
League's cooperative agreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration to develop Safe Routes curriculum for middle schools.
The League's Education Director Sami Fournier worked with PE teachers,
MCBC's Chris Davis and Jason Agar, Scott Bricker from Oregon's Bicycle
Transportation Alliance, and parent volunteers to conduct classes at
the school...

"The League's curriculum includes training for PE teachers, police, and
community volunteers to teach Safe Routes lessons to kids; it should be
introduced at the League's Bicycle Education Leadership Conference May
2-4, 2005 in New York City..."

BICYCLE COLORADO HELPS EXTEND SHOULDER POLICY

-> According to the Oct. 21st Bicycle Colorado newsletter, "The
Colorado Department of Transportation plans to continue their policy of
including/adding paved shoulders on new and reconstructed roads.
Bicycle Colorado met with and encouraged CDOT to extend the 1999 policy
which sunsets this year. CDOT's Intermodal Committee endorsed the
policy on Wednesday and sent it to Transportation Commission for final
approval next month."

Q-U-O-T-E-S--R--U-S

"...a kind word now for the roundabout, that ubiquitous feature of
roads throughout France and much of the rest of Europe. Yes,
roundabouts take some getting used to. (The Milwaukee area has only
recently begun to catch on to them.) But thanks to savvy engineering
and clear directional signs, the French roundabouts efficiently
separate traffic without causing bottlenecks. And many of them are
gorgeously landscaped, some with topiaries and public art..."

I-N--T-H-E--N-E-W-S

POLL: AMERICANS WANT WALKABLE NEIGHBORHOODS

-> According to an Oct. 20th Bend Bugle article, "The National
Association of Realtors and Smart Growth America released a nationwide
poll Wednesday on what kinds of communities people want to live in. The
survey found that most Americans (55%) seek smart growth communities
that have shorter commute times, sidewalks and places to walk by. Among
those likely to buy a home in the next three years, 61% say that they
would choose to live in this kind of community.

"'This new poll reflects what we have known in Oregon for some time:
home buyers are drawn to smart growth communities where they can walk,
have short commutes, and there is a range of housing options,' said Bob
Stacey, Executive Director of 1000 Friends of Oregon. 'This poll
confirms that Oregon is on the right track for home buyers, thanks to
our land use planning program.'..."

UTAHNS TAKE TO SIDEWALKS TO REDISCOVER COMMUNITY

-> According to an Oct. 17th Deseret Morning News article, "Not that
long ago, Wiebke Lips walked to run errands. Now she sits -- in
traffic. In her Honda, often going nowhere fast, she'll sometimes get
stuck on a memory of sidewalks packed with pedestrians flowing along
streets rarely framed by a windshield. Lips, 26, has been in a kind of
dashboard daze for about two months now, since moving to Draper from
Manhattan. 'In Utah we drive off in the morning and come home at night
so we don't socialize with our neighbors,' Lips said. 'I think that's
so sad. It would be great to leave the car at home for once.' Actually,
she believes in leaving the car home a lot more than once in a while.
She and other residents are trying to add a little humanity to a place
literally built for vehicles: Legend has it that Brigham Young wanted
Salt Lake's city streets wide enough to allow a wagon pulled by a
four-head team of oxen to turn without having to back up. That approach
and grid system was duplicated around the state.

"But in several of those towns that became the suburbs of today,
residents are taking to the streets to make them places for strolling,
shopping, eating and socializing. All along the Wasatch Front, city
leaders are reinventing Utah towns into places where residents feel
invested in the community and a part of its character, said Kenneth
Bullock, executive director of the Utah League of Cities and Towns. 'We
seem to have lost our sense of heritage and community,' Bullock said.
'Now we're realizing that it's a sense of unity we're looking for, not
isolation.'...A snapshot of Salt Lake Valley and Utah County reveals
that almost every major urban area and suburb are planning a walkable
community, complete with stores opening directly onto sidewalks and
parking relegated to side or back lots..."

STUDY: OBESITY CAUSES 1/4 OF HEALTH CARE COST GROWTH

-> According to an Oct. 20th Washington Post article, "More than a
quarter of the phenomenal growth in health care spending over the past
15 years is attributable to obesity, Emory University researchers
reported yesterday. With 60 percent of the U.S. population deemed
overweight or obese, study author Kenneth Thorpe said the only way to
control soaring medical costs is to begin targeting prevention efforts
and treatment on the most costly weight-related illnesses, such as
diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease.

"'We've got to find ways to get the rates of obesity stabilized or
falling,' he said in an interview. 'We need to find effective
interventions to deal with this on multiple levels -- the schools, at
home, in the workplace -- because clearly this is a major driver in
terms of growth in health care spending.'..."[The] numbers show that
the prevailing approach for dealing with obesity, which is to blame
people who have the problem and hope the situation will disappear, is a
fantasy," said Kelly Brownell, director of the Yale Center for Eating
and Weight Disorders. 'Something dramatic needs to be done to change
the environment in order to prevent this problem from occurring in the
first place.'..."

LACONIA (NH) WORKS ON PED-ORIENTED DOWNTOWN

-> According to an Oct. 16th Laconia Citizen article, "After touring
the historic Laconia District Court building on Academy Street Friday,
a group of residents, legislators, municipal, state and county
officials concluded that the District Court should remain there. But
the group also agreed that the municipally owned building, erected in
1886 as the first Laconia High School, needs repairs to the tune of up
to $3.3 million, and its two upper floors, now largely vacant, need to
be put back into service for the community...Friday's tour of the
courthouse and then a discussion on its future was organized by the
Laconia Main Street program, and Joe Adrignola, who is one of its
directors.

"As Laconia Main Street came into existence two years ago, its members
had already identified the benefits of keeping the district court where
it is as part of the larger goal of revitalizing the downtown. LMS
Executive Director Deb Gorman touched on that theme Friday, explaining
that with the current concentration of municipal, county, state and
federal offices and services in the downtown, citizens can now do
several tasks in 'one shot.' The clustering of those offices and
services also helps make the downtown a more 'walkable community,' she
added, and gives current and potential new businesses opportunities to
cash in on the heavy pedestrian traffic..."

STUDY: TRAFFIC MAY BE FACTOR IN HEART ATTACKS

-> According to an Oct. 20th Elites TV story, "A recent German study
has found that people prone to a heart attack face triple their usual
risk as a result of traffic, whether they are in cars, on bicycles or
on mass transit. The researchers put most of the blame on polluted air.
The study was funded partly by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
and appeared in the Thursday edition of The New England Journal of
Medicine. The authors estimate that 8 percent of the heart attacks they
studied were attributable to traffic. The triggers for a heart attack,
which is a sudden event, are rarely understood, but, if the findings
are confirmed, traffic will be added to the list of known list of
triggers, which include outbursts of anger, strenuous exercise and use
of cocaine.

"'Given our current knowledge, it is impossible to determine the
relative contribution of risk factors such as stress and
traffic-related air pollution,' said the research team, led by Annette
Peters of the National Research Centre for Environment and Health in
Neuherberg. Nonetheless, because air pollution is known to increase the
probability of a heart attack, they said, people already at risk for
heart problems 'are likely to profit from recent efforts to improve the
air quality in urban areas with the use of cleaner vehicles and
improved city planning.'...Traffic posed a risk regardless of the mode
of transportation, with one in 12 heart attacks being linked to this
source. Heart attacks were 2.6 times more common for people stuck in
cars, 3.1 times higher for people stalled in traffic while taking
public transportation, and 3.9 times greater for those jammed up while
on a bicycle..."

NEW JERSEY COMMUNITIES TAKE ON TOWN CENTER PROJECTS

-> According to an Oct. 11th Trenton Times article, "If a drugstore can
be cute, the CVS in Plainsboro comes close. At the urging of township
officials, the store's parent company shrank the standard, tomato-red
lettering, tucked the parking out back and decorated the roof with a
cupola and weather vane. It's all part of the suburban township's
effort to concentrate its downtown and make it look like something out
of Mayberry. 'It's amazing what you can get if you push,' said Michael
La Place, Plainsboro's planner. With a combination of pushing,
negotiating and common-sense planning, several towns in Mercer County
are aiming to incorporate nostalgia and convenience in the form of
old-fashioned, walkable downtowns.

"In Plainsboro, Washington Township, Hamilton and West Windsor, where
most homes are in subdivisions and most stores are in strip malls, town
center projects are taking shape to spice up the low-slung, generic
landscapes known as sprawl. Most ambitious is Washington's Town Center
off Route 33, where a thick cluster of housing is going up to give the
township a core. Borrowing from the past, the Sharbell Development
Corp. has built close to the streets and added front porches, ironwork,
carriageways and many varying elements to give the Town Center a
vibrancy that an ordinary subdivision would lack. It has been a hit
with the public. Sharbell has managed to sell 440 of 828 planned units.
Other developers have hundreds more in mind, and commercial projects als
o are under way..."

SOUTH COVENTRY (PA) FINDS COMMUNITY IN SIDEWALKS

-> According to an Oct. 18th Philadelphia Inquirer article, "On this
sun-splashed evening, Jane Quinn and Tina Zolfaghari are visiting on
the sidewalk. Quinn's daughter toddles ahead and three boys -- the
Velez children -- swish past on bikes. Down the path, Larry Huber walks
his yellow Lab, and the Humes return from a hand-in-hand, after-dinner
stroll, stopping to greet the Xanders. Here is a scene out of
small-town America. Yet the Quinns, Zolfagharis and others live on
Lindley Lane in Ridglea, a three-year-old suburban outpost in South
Coventry...It is easy to see how the neighborhood emerged -- bulldozers
and backhoes reshaped the land and the houses sprang up like tulips in
May.

"A sense of community is harder to construct. In Ridglea and other
sudivisions in the region, an ingredient abandoned for decades by
developers is at least partly responsible for the emerging sense of
connection among neighbors: Sidewalks. Those concrete paths -- whose
image took a beating when post-World War II America swooned for
automobiles -- are paving the way to neighborhoods that are more
closely connected, safer and healthier, according to experts..."

PORTLAND (OR) TWO-WHEELED COMMUTERS SAVE $$

-> According to an Oct. 21st KATU-TV story, "Tim Forsberg bikes 15
miles a day to his job and more if his band, the Trash Mountain Boys,
is playing somewhere in town. He totes his guitar and other equipment
in a bike trailer and likes bicycling so much that he writes songs
about its benefits. While saving money isn't the main reason he bikes,
it's been an added benefit, especially with this year's surge in gas
prices.

"In the Portland area, conservative estimates show that bike commuting
has tripled since 1991. Those commuters are saving millions a year, it
turns out, along with the environmental and health benefits. Forsberg
figures he saves at least $2,000 a year in gas, insurance and
maintenance by not driving his Toyota. Drivers with bigger cars, loan
payments and high depreciation can easily pay more than $6,000 annually
in car ownership and operating costs, according to the Automobile Club
of Oregon/Idaho..."

SALON.COM EXAMINES SAFE ROUTES MOVEMENT

-> According to an Oct. 13th Salon article, "...Safe Routes to School
[is] a rapidly expanding 4-year-old effort that coordinates
transportation, health and education agencies to get children walking
and biking to school. Statewide Safe Routes programs are already
underway in California, Washington and Wisconsin, and the pending
reauthorization of the highway and transit bill, TEA-3, contains a $1
billion appropriation for a federal Safe Routes to School program.

"'It has the potential to become one of the best ways to improve
conditions for walking and biking," said [Andy Clarke, executive
director of the Washington D.C.-based League for American Bicyclists],
describing the broad cross-section of Safe Routes supporters, including
parents and teachers, health agencies and urban planners. 'There's an
unassailable coalition.' Sharon Roerty, director of community programs
at the National Center for Bicycling and Walking in Bethesda, Md.,
concurs. 'Safe Routes to School means a better walking and biking
environment for everyone,' she said. 'We picked schools because that's
motherhood and apple pie. But it could be a senior center; it could be
a train station.' But if Safe Routes to School is a case study in
successful grass-roots organizing, the story behind it also unfolds as
a classic -- and damning -- parable of contemporary American culture..."

LEAVENWORTH (KS) TO USE HWY FUNDS FOR STREETSCAPE PROJECT

-> According to an Oct. 21st Leavenworth Times article, "In the
continuing effort to revitalize downtown Leavenworth and highlight its
historic charm, city officials are considering applying for highway
funds for a Delaware streetscape project. On Tuesday, city
commissioners heard the results of a study conducted by EBH, a
consulting firm that assessed downtown and residential sidewalks for
the city. Mike McDonald, public works director, cited the firm's
presentation in December as the impetus for the grant application.

"The firm had described successful efforts with other communities in
securing Kansas Department of Transportation enhancement grants. Some
cities had used the grants to improve pedestrian access in the
downtown, and that is a major focus in the $1.3 million grant
application. As envisioned, the project would target Delaware Street
from Sixth Street to Esplanade. It includes improved sidewalks and
parking as well as making the downtown ADA compliant..."

140 BATON ROUGE (LA) LEADERS LEARN ABOUT WALKABILITY

-> According to an Oct. 19th Baton Rouge Advocate article, "The best
cities are easy to walk around in. That's one crucial lesson derived
from a recent fact-finding trip to Nashville by 140 Baton Rouge area
government, business and civic leaders. On the trip, delegation leaders
heard Nashville's chief city planner, Rick Bernhardt, warn what happens
when cities rely almost exclusively on cars for transportation. Roads
clog with traffic. People stuck behind the wheel lack exercise and gain
weight, straining the health-care system. Pressure mounts for public
works projects to ease congestion, and all of these projects cost lots
of money, which must be paid by the taxpayer. Pollution from car
exhaust fouls the air. The quality of life suffers, and the city becom
es less attractive to outside investment.

"In short, everyone loses. Baton Rouge, where traffic is a perennial
problem and obesity ranks as a prominent health concern, is no stranger
to these issues. Luckily, there are creative solutions. Neighborhoods
with sidewalks and bike paths, said Bernhardt, can give people
alternatives to getting behind the wheel. It also helps to plan new
residential developments so that more residents are within easy walking
distance of businesses, churches and schools. This translates into more
exercise, a healthier population, cleaner air and an improved quality
of life..."

TOO MUCH TELEVISION MAY LEAD TO HEALTH PROBLEMS

-> According to an Oct. 21st U.S. News & World Report article, "Lots of
studies show that kids who watch TV are less healthy. Kids who watch TV
probably spend less time playing outside and are able to get their
parents to buy all sorts of sugary foods from commercials. But there
have been no long-term studies of kids' TV-watching habits and their
long-term health -- until this one: a 26-year study of New Zealanders...

"Watching more TV at ages 5 -15 was correlated with a whole list of
health evils at age 26: more excess weight, more likely to smoke,
higher cholesterol, and lower aerobic power on the exercise bike. That
was true even after adjusting for their socioeconomic status as
children. And childhood TV viewing correlated with overweight even
after adjusting for the kids' size at age 5 and their parents' size.
The researchers didn't find any relationship between television and
blood pressure..."

NASHUA (NH) POLICE "STING" BIKE THIEVES

-> According to an Oct. 21st Lowell Sun article, "Police had city bike
thieves spinning their wheels this week when they caught four men who
they say stole the same bicycle from in front of the public library on
court street. The problem for the thieves wasn't that they had trouble
taking the 12-speed bike, it was that members of the problem-oriented
policing unit had been watching it ever since they put it there Tuesday.

"The sting operation was a response to a spate of bicycle thefts
reported around the city...All four men will be arraigned in Nashua
District Court at a later date, police said..."

O-U-R--J-U-S-T-I-C-E--S-Y-S-T-E-M

CRITICAL MASS RIDES VS CRITICAL MASS DRIVES

-> According to an Oct. 19th New York Daily News Op-Ed piece by Charles
Komanoff, "Drivers don't get arrested for interfering with traffic.
Some huge SUV may be blocking a bus or slowing an ambulance somewhere
upstream, but no driver is ever expected to justify his presence in the
road. But let a bunch of bicycle riders show up together, filling a few
blocks with nothing more lethal than their bells, yells and sweat, and
the NYPD lunges into action. In August, a police dragnet at a mass bike
ride through midtown landed 264 cyclists in jail. On a September ride,
police turned their wrath on the bicycles themselves, sawing the chains
from 40 and taking them into custody.

"These Critical Mass rides, as they are known, have been happening once
a month for the last five or six years in New York without this kind of
interference. Now, however, the cops and Mayor Bloomberg, apparently
galvanized by the security worries during the Republican convention,
have decided that Critical Mass is an attack on law and order. The next
ride is slated for a week from Friday, and it's a good bet there will
be the same kind of overreaction. But Critical Mass is not an
organization, and its participants are there for all kinds of reasons.
It is nothing more than a bunch of people on bikes, just as 'traffic'
is just a bunch of people in cars...Every hour of every day is a
cars-and-trucks Critical Mass in New York. So why is a bicycle version
such a threat?..."

AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

MAKING SMOOTHIES WITH OLD BIKES

-> According to an Oct. 2nd Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, "Free
Ride! is dedicated to recycling junk bikes into riders, but according
to Nick Thompson, 'once in a while a bike frame gets cut up and welded
back together to start a new life as a smoothie blender.' You still
pedal it, but rather than just make you thirsty, your efforts turn the
bike wheel that spins a skateboard wheel that powers a blender mounted
on the otherwise stationary contraption. Laugh if you want, but this
project of nonprofit Bike Pittsburgh has sold three bike blenders to
Ben & Jerry's, the Vermont-based ice cream chain..."

Q-U-I-CK--H-I-T-S

WWF: HUMANITY'S FOSSIL FUEL HABIT THREATENS WILDLIFE

-> "Humanity's reliance on fossil fuels, the spread of cities, the
destruction of natural habitats for farmland and over-exploitation of
the oceans are destroying Earth's ability to sustain life, the
environmental group WWF warned in a new report..."http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/9976334.htm

POOR ARE ISOLATED IN PED-UNFRIENDLY SUBURBS

-> "According to a new report conducted by the Brookings Institute, the

BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD N.C. TO OFFER OBESITY TREATMENT
-> "Alarmed by the obesity epidemic, North Carolina's largest health
insurance company announced yesterday that it will offer more than 1
million of its members the most comprehensive package of benefits ever
provided to prevent and treat weight problems..."http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28015-2004Oct12.html

J-O-B-S--G-R-A-N-T-S--A-N-D--R-F-P-S

-> RFP -- ENHANCING INTERNAL TRIP CAPTURE ESTIMATION FOR MIXED-USE
DEVELOPMENTS -- NCHRP
TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has issued
a request for proposals to produce a methodology for enhancing internal
trip capture estimates that includes a classification system of
mixed-use developments and a data-collection framework for quantifying
the magnitude of internal travel to and around mixed-use developments.
PROPOSALS DUE NOVEMBER 18, 2004http://trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=4257

-> JOB -- MEMBERSHIP/MKTG MGR -- BICYCLE COLORADO
We are currently seeking a Membership and Marketing Manager to work
from our offices in Denver. This is a great opportunity to be part of
the movement to improve and expand cycling in Colorado. Full job
description and application process is posted athttp://www.bicyclecolorado.org/to/Jobs

-> JOB -- PROGRAMS ASSISTANT -- LEAGUE OF MICHIGAN BICYCLISTS
The League of Michigan Bicyclists seeks a full time Programs Assistant
for both administrative and program duties to help make Michigan a
Bicycle-Friendly State. Salary $21,000-$23,000, depending on
qualifications. Benefits include health insurance, two weeks paid
vacation, and 12 paid holidays. Office-casual dress appropriate and
bicycle commuting highly desirable. Non-smoking building. Work site is
in downtown Lansing, MI on River Trail. Bicycle parking in building.
Preferred Start Date: November 1st or earlier if possible. Work
schedule either 8-4pm or 9-5pm negotiable.

Qualifications Mastery of Microsoft Office software, Internet and
Access database, website creation experience helpful; strong verbal and
writing skills; comfort with public contact on phone, by email and in
person; knowledge of marketing, public relations, journalism, public
policy, land use, transportation planning, environmental issues,
bicycle safety education; or related disciplines; Four-year college
degree in a related field preferred; if currently in a Degree Program,
Senior or Graduate Student preferred.

Requirements Lansing area resident; commitment to promoting
bicycling;
must be frequent bicycle rider and agree to use a Consumer Product
Safety Commission approved helmet when commuting or on LMB business;
attend four weekend Board Meetings a year; attend approx. 12-15
night/weekend events yearly; job requires occasional lifting and
carrying boxes of weighing 25-35 lbs.; walking up and down stairs,
talking on telephone; operating office machines, sitting at a computer
and entering data using keyboard and mouse; regular access to home
computer and email. Please send resume, 3 references with phone numbers

-> JOB -- BIKE COORDINATOR -- S.F. BAY REGIONAL RIDESHARE PGM
The San Francisco Bay Area Regional Rideshare Program is looking to
hire a part-time (16 hours/week) bicycle coordinator in order to
enhance our ability to provide regional bike commuting information
through the 511 bicycle website, the Rideshare Program telephone
service and Bay Area employers. We're looking for someone who is in
tune to regional bicycle issues and who is well-connected to the
bicycle community. This person would be responsible for coordinating
content on the 511 bicycle website, working with employers to promote
bicycling programs at work and serving as the Rideshare Program's
primary resource for bicycling information when commuters call or
e-mail requesting advice. Inquiries and resumes can come to Karen Bakar
at <kbakar@rides.org>